A questionable cartoon from the Daily Mail

The Mailhas a story today about the gay couple, Steven Preddy and Martin Hall, who were awarded £1,800 after winning their case against the hotel owners who refused to let them share a room.

Peter and Hazelmary Bull, a Christian couple, turned the civil partners away after they realised that the booking was not for a husband and wife.

In my view, this is a victory against discrimination. But the Mail has focused on the story in a slightly different way, headlining it: "'Now some people are more equal than others': Despair of Christian hotel owners penalised for turning away gays".

I disagree with the stance, but many others probably feel the same way and the Mail has a responsibility to address the concerns of its readership. But that's not what I find objectionable.

No, it's the cartoon about the case that I see as problematic - you can see it here - lampooning the couple as a tattoo heavy biker duo, one with a swastika drawn on his arm.

I don't really get where the cartoonist was going with it, but it's unnecessary, offensive to both gay and Jewish people in my view - and it's not the sort of thing I expect to see on the pages of a national newspaper in 2011.

COMMENTS

What bothered me most about this was the screaming hysteria and accusations of homophobia against anyone that even tried to present the couple's side of the argument. And they were subjected to some horrific harassment following the incident.

It's a morally grey area at best and these things need to be debated openly.